In the previous article, the author talked to you about a series of stories about the zoning changes in various prefecture-level cities in Hebei Province, such as Shijiazhuang City, Baoding City , Cangzhou City , etc. Today, we talk about in Hebei Province and in Handan City. Handan City has a total population of more than 9.3 million, ranking third in Hebei Province after Shijiazhuang City and Baoding City. Currently, Handan City has 18 districts and counties under its jurisdiction. So, how was the zoning pattern of the 18 districts and counties formed? Today, we will talk about this issue.
First, let’s talk about the basic situation of Hebei Province. Hebei Province is a province in North my country. It is also one of my country's major economic, populous and food provinces. According to the data from the 2020 Seven Census , the total population of Hebei Province has reached more than 74 million, ranking 6th among all provinces and cities in the country, second only to the five provinces of Guangdong, Shandong, Henan, Sichuan, and Jiangsu. In 2021, the total GDP of Hebei Province exceeded 4 trillion, which is at a very good level.
The terrain in the northern part of Hebei Province is complex, dominated by mountains and hills. In ancient history, it was part of the Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures . It was a battleground for military strategists and has always been a natural barrier for the Central Plains Dynasty to resist the nomadic cavalry in the north. . For example, Zhangjiakou , Chengde and other places are easy to defend but difficult to attack. The central and southern parts are dominated by plains, and the vast North China Plain is basically located in Hebei Province. Hebei Province has high grain output and many varieties, and is an important grain supply base in my country.
For example, in this year’s summer grain production, Hebei Province is still one of the main producing areas. Martial arts are common throughout Hebei, and in ancient history, it was the main area where the Central Plains dynasties recruited soldiers. Therefore, there was a saying that " Yanzhao was known as a person who lamented and sang songs in ancient times". At present, Hebei Province has a total of 11 prefecture-level cities under its jurisdiction, including Shijiazhuang City, Baoding City, Cangzhou City, Handan City, Langfang City and so on.
Handan City is an important city in southern Hebei Province and one of the most populous cities in Hebei Province. As of 2021, Handan City's total population has reached more than 9.3 million, ranking third in the province after Shijiazhuang City and Baoding City. In 2021, Handan City's total GDP will reach more than 410 billion, making it an economically strong city in Hebei Province. The origin of the name of Handan City is very interesting. It means "Han, the name of the mountain. Dan, the end. Handan Mountain ends here. The characters for city and city all come from Yi, so it is named after it."
At present, Handan Dan City has jurisdiction over 5 districts, 1 mining area, 11 counties, and 1 county-level city, which are: Hanshan District, Congtai District, Fuxing District, Fengfeng Mining District, Feixiang District , Yongnian District , Wu'an County , Linzhang County , Cheng'an County , Daming County , She County , Cixian , Qiu County, Jize County, Guangping County , Guantao County , Wei County , Quzhou County . As for the zoning pattern of the 18 districts and counties in Handan City, it has gone through several stages of adjustment.
As we all know, my country's provincial divisions appeared in Yuan Dynasty . After continuous adjustments and improvements during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the basic framework pattern of each province was basically formed. By the middle of the rule of and in the Qing Dynasty, the divisional pattern of each province had basically been formed. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, Zhili Province had 12 prefectures and 6 Zhili prefectures, namely: Shuntian Prefecture, Baoding Prefecture, Tianjin Prefecture, Zhengding Prefecture, and tml4 Daming Prefecture , Shunde Prefecture , Guangping Prefecture , Hejian Prefecture , Chengde Prefecture , Chaoyang Prefecture, Xuanhua Prefecture, Yongping Prefecture, Zunhua Prefecture, Yizhou, Jizhou, Zhaozhou, Shenzhen Zhouzhou and Dingzhou.
At that time, the counties under the jurisdiction of Handan were basically under the management of Guangping Prefecture, Daming Prefecture and other state governments. In 1912, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, our country entered a complex stage of warlord warfare. Due to the serious melee between warlords, it caused great damage to the economies of various places. In the blink of an eye, we arrived at the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. With the basic end of large-scale wars, our country entered a period of post-war reconstruction, resumption of production, and development and construction.At that time, a series of special districts and prefecture-level cities were established in Hebei Province.
In 1952, Henan Province and Hebei Province underwent a round of zoning changes. Among them, Linzhang County, Shexian County and Wu'an County in the northernmost part of Henan Province are included in the management of Handan Prefecture of Hebei Province. At this time, the Handan Special Zone had jurisdiction over 2 county-level towns, 1 mining area, and 16 counties, namely: Handan Town , Linqing Town, Fengfeng Mining Area, Handan County , Daming County, Wei County, Quzhou County, Qiu County, Jize County, Feixiang County, Guangping County, Cheng'an County, Linzhang County, Ci County, Wu'an County, She County, Yongnian County, Guantao County , Linqing County.
A few months later, the division of Handan District underwent large-scale adjustments. The county-level town of Handan was renamed as a county-level city and continued to be under the management of Handan District. Fengfeng Mining Area was promoted to fengfeng prefecture-level city, separated from Handan Prefecture. In the zoning changes between Hebei Province and Shandong Province, Linqing County, Guantao County, Linqing Town and other places were placed under the management of Shandong Province. After this round of zoning changes, Handan Prefecture formed a zoning pattern of 1 county-level city and 14 counties.
In 1956, due to actual management needs, Fengfeng prefecture-level city was downgraded to county-level city and reclassified to the Handan District. Subsequently, it was renamed Fengfeng Mining Area. In 1958, in a new round of zoning changes in Hebei Province, the Xingtai Prefecture in Hebei Province was revoked, and all counties under its jurisdiction were placed under the management of the Handan Prefecture. At this stage, the jurisdiction of the Handan Special Region was greatly expanded, managing a total of 29 counties and county-level cities, and almost the entire southern region of Hebei Province.
In 1960, Handan District was renamed Handan prefecture-level city. In the 1950s and 1960s, my country's transportation and scientific and technological levels were limited, and there were too many counties under its jurisdiction, which further increased the difficulty of management. In 1961, Xingtai District was reorganized. In the same year, Handan prefecture-level city was renamed Handan District. In 1965, in a new round of zoning adjustment between Hebei Province and Shandong Province, Guantao County was placed under the management of Handan District.
html In the late 1960s, after all the prefectures across the country were renamed as regions, the Handan Prefecture was renamed the Handan Prefecture, and the divisions under its jurisdiction remained unchanged. In the late 1970s, my country's economy entered a stage of rapid development. In order to meet the needs of economic development, regions under the jurisdiction of various provinces in our country have begun to make various zoning adjustments. In 1983, Handan county-level city was promoted to prefecture-level city, and Handan prefecture-level city and Handan region appeared side by side. In order to expand the jurisdiction of Handan prefecture-level city, Handan County and Wu'an County were successively included in the management of Handan prefecture-level city.
In view of the economic status of Wu'an County, Wu'an County was abolished in 1988 and Wu'an county-level city was established. The coexistence of regions and prefecture-level cities is not conducive to economic development. After entering the 1990s, such zoning problems became obvious. In 1993, the Handan area was abolished, and all counties and mining areas under its jurisdiction were placed under the management of Handan prefecture-level city. As of the mid-1990s, Handan prefecture-level city governed 3 districts, 1 mining area, 1 county-level city, and 14 counties.
are: Hanshan District, Congtai District, Fuxing District, Fengfeng Mining District, and Wu'an County-level City. Handan County, Yongnian County, Cheng'an County, Ci County, Shexian County, Linzhang County, Wei County, Feixiang County, Guangping County, Quzhou County, Jize County, Qiu County, Daming County, and Guantao County. Handan City is developing very rapidly, with the urban population further increasing and the urban area further expanding. After entering the 21st century, the zoning of Handan City began to be further adjusted.
In 2016, Handan County in Handan City was abolished, and the various streets and towns under its original jurisdiction were placed under the management of surrounding districts. Feixiang County and Yongnian County were abolished and Feixiang District and Yongnian District were formed. As of this time, the divisional pattern of Handan City's five districts, one mining area, 11 counties, and one county-level city has been basically formed.
Of course, due to the need for economic development, after entering the 21st century, Handan City successively established several new districts such as the High-tech Zone, the Economic Development Zone, and the Eastern New District. However, these new areas have special circumstances and are functional areas, so they are generally not included.
There are many more stories about the zoning adjustments in various regions in our country. The author will talk to you slowly in future articles.
